To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BCQuotes
Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.
—Arthur Miller, 2001I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCI am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.
—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 BCThere is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515